THE INDIE
For a manager in third place in the Premiership, Bolton's Sam Allardyce had sounded a tad pessimistic in suggesting his team required "a miracle" for victory over Manchester United. But at times yesterday afternoon, the stark assessment looked like an understatement. His worst fears were confirmed as United produced one of the most dominant starts to a game by any away team in memory,
Wayne Rooney ended his long drought without a goal by scoring two early on. The home side improved in a second half of characteristic vigour, only to be left feeling even more sorry for themselves when Cristiano Ronaldo added a third on the break and Rooney, in the week of his 21st birthday, completed a first Premiership hat-trick just before the finish.
With the movement and control of Rooney and Louis Saha making the most of Michael Carrick's passing, United were quite irresistible. Sir Alex Ferguson was almost purring as he suggested later: "The first 25 minutes were the best football we've played in a good few years. No other team in the country will come here and get that result."
That is one of few consolations for Allardyce, who admitted: "You can't live with them when they're in that mood. We were chasing shadows because of their movement and passing. It's a great lesson for us to show exactly where we are and where the big boys are. At least we had a spirited go at them in the second half before making two dreadful mistakes."
The game had been billed as the Premiership's statistically tightest defence against its most prolific attack, the suggestion being that a good proportion of the play would take place around Bolton's penalty area. That was certainly the way of it in the first 30 minutes, in which United, utterly dominant, reduced the home support to shocked silence. The Reebok Stadium had not seen a visiting team score all season, yet in little more than a quarter of an hour Jussi Jaaskelainen was retrieving the ball from his net twice.
Nor was it just the supposedly attacking players bombarding him; in the first 10 minutes, each of United's full-backs almost scored in quick succession. Patrice Evra, the left-back, was the closer of the two when he finished an exquisite passing move by forcing Jaaskelainen to block. Then Rooney put Saha through and Abdoulaye Faye had to head his chip off the line. Rooney was clearly in the mood, and soon Carrick sent him away for a sweet left-footed finish.
THE OBSERVER
The Title race still has a long way to go, and on this evidence Manchester United look equipped to stick with Chelsea all the way. But perhaps, more importantly, the time for worrying about Wayne Rooney is over.
United's most potent attacking threat had not scored since the first weekend of the season and has attracted all manner of comment with some off -colour displays in the interim, though if the word can be applied to a 21-year-old, this was a vintage hat-trick. Liverpool in particular, having lost here last month, will be embarrassed when watching how easily Rooney and United blew Bolton away.
Amid all the attention Sir Alex Ferguson has rightly been receiving as his twentieth anniversary at Manchester United approaches, the fact that Sam Allardyce has just completed seven years at Bolton went relatively unnoticed. Yet seven years at what is unquestionably now a Premiership club is no small achievement, particularly as Bolton have a couple of wins at Old Trafford under their belt and currently lie third in the table after making their best start in five seasons.
Bolton have not beaten United at home since the late 1970s, however, when Frank Worthington and Alan Gowling were the scorers in a 3-0 win at Burnden Park, and it was clear from the outset here that neither Allardyce nor the Reebok were going to break their duck. Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs sliced open the home defence at will, Jussi Jaaskelainen saved from Patrice Evra , Gary Neville hit a cross across the face of goal from the right, Cristiano Ronaldo did the same from the left, then Louis Saha saw a shot cleared off the line by Abdoulaye Faye - and that was just the first nine minutes. Either United were quick out of the blocks because they wanted to avoid being sucked into an attritional contest, or Bolton rely on the suspended Kevin Nolan much more than they would care to admit.
Either way, the goals began to arrive from the 10th minute onwards, and the first two came courtesy of a thoroughly rejuvenated Rooney. Perhaps the England striker was always going to enjoy himself against a defence who already had their hands full with Scholes, Giggs, Saha and Ronaldo, or maybe it was the blazing indignation he turned towards referee Rob Styles when a clumsy foul by Faye went unpunished that stoked his competitive fire. However, when Michael Carrick chipped a clever pass over Bolton's dozing rearguard, the old Rooney returned like Popeye reacquainted with spinach.
Rooney was on to the pass in a flash, controlling the ball and burying a venomous shot beyond Jaaskelainen before most of the Bolton side had woken up to the danger. Six minutes later he was back for more, seizing on a loose ball just outside the area and surprising Jaaskelainen again with the accuracy and earliness of his shot. With less than 20 minutes on the clock, the game was as good as over, the man of the match a formality and the idea that Rooney had lost his drive rendered laughable. 'It costs £39 for a ticket,' one Bolton fan complained loudly during the first half as his team tried somewhat ineptly to limit the damage. You could say Rooney's goals were worth the admission price, though even the United fans might have been in favour of a contest that lasted longer than 16 minutes.
SUNDAY TIMES
Briefly displaced by Chelsea at lunchtime yesterday, United stormed back to the top of the table with a devastating demonstration that Wayne Rooney is back to his best.
England's most gifted footballer had gone 10 games without a goal since the season's opening day, but he set about making up for lost time here with a hat-trick to ruin Sam Allardyce's 200th Premiership match as Bolton manager.
Crushingly superior in a one-sided first half, United might have scored five before the interval. The collective foot was taken off the pedal at 2-0, allowing Bolton a brief spell of pressure in the second half, but goals by Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney ended the fightback before it produced anything of consequence.
Sir Alex Ferguson was exultant afterwards. "The first 25 minutes was the best we've played for a good few years and 4-0 is a great result," said the United manager. "No other team would come here and do that." Of Rooney's triumphant return to top form, he said: "It has been coming for a while. As soon as the first one went in you could see his confidence flooding back, and I was sitting there thinking: ‘Go on, son, get a couple more' ."
Bolton have a dreadful record against their near-neighbours and have not beaten them at home in the league since 1978. They never threatened to end that run here as United made it nine wins in 11 Premiership matches and five in succession. Unfortunately for Bolton, they stood back as if overawed and allowing United to dominate right from the start. At full strength, with the arguable exception of Gabriel Heinze, the leaders swept the ball around with a cohesive swagger that had the issue settled by the 16th minute. By that stage Rooney had them 2-0 up and such was their overwhelming superiority, it could easily have been a lot more. The tone was set after five minutes when Ryan Giggs and Rooney worked a shooting chance for Patrice Evra on the overlap. Jussi Jaaskelainen was out smartly to the edge of his six-yard box to save at the full-back's feet — the start of a busy afternoon for him.
United came surging back, Giggs leaving Nicky Hunt before putting over an inviting centre that Rooney was unable to reach barely three yards out. Louis Saha was next, only to be thwarted by Abdoulaye Meite, who headed the shot from under the crossbar.
The first goal arrived after 11 minutes when Michael Carrick's long through-ball bisected Hunt and Abdoulaye Faye, allowing Rooney to run on in the inside-left channel before shooting low, inside Jaaskelainen's right post. It was a gem of a goal — a real shot in the arm, if you'll pardon the pun — and more of the same was to follow, but before it did Ronaldo threatened to double the margin with what would have been a gift. Jaaskelainen, shell-shocked by the carnage in front of him, miscued a clearance straight to the trickster 20 yards out. Ronaldo controlled the ball and steadied himself before letting fly from the 18-yard line, the errant keeper stretching to save at the second attempt.
Allardyce said: "In that form, United are difficult for anyone. We tried our best, but we have to hold up our hands and admit we weren't good enough. We were chasing shadows." The real chase is Chelsea's.
THE TELEGRAPH
Whether or not Manchester United can sustain a title challenge over the entire season, they are thoroughly enjoying hogging the fast lane of the Premiership and the delicious view it affords them in their wing mirrors of an irate Portuguese gentlemen behind honking his horns, flashing his lights and gesticulating for them to move over
Chelsea did briefly barge and bump their way to the front at lunchtime but United, without even putting their foot to the floor, majestically cruised back past them with a performance illuminated by a Wayne Rooney hat-trick, his first in the Premiership.
Despite last week's impressive win over Liverpool, it is in games like this that title contenders cut their teeth, in this instance against a Bolton team who, although never victorious against United at home in the Premiership, no longer see themselves as top division urchins doffing their cloth caps to footballing aristocracy.
Even Bolton manager Sam Allardyce has stopped peddling that image. At least he had until United proved that there is still a class gap between the Premiership's top four and the plebs below.
He said: "It's a great lesson to us as to where the big boys are in relation to us. We can compete with them when we're on song, but you cannot live with them when they are in that mood. We were left chasing shadows."
Allardyce believes his team have genuine hopes of qualifying for the Champions League and, over breakfast yesterday, Bolton fans were even dreaming of stealing top spot before suffering what England manager Steve McClaren would have described as a reality check, surrendering to Wayne Rooney's first goals since the opening day of the season.
Rooney had spent the previous few games orchestrating the United attack and selflessly handing out goalscoring vouchers to his team-mates. Here, looking back to full fitness or near as damn it, he decided to start restocking his own goals bank balance. "There's been a lot of talk by a lot of people saying I couldn't do it any more, so the feeling when the first goal went in was brilliant," he said.
"Although I'm not too worried about not scoring as long as we get the result, it was a relief, especially as I had gone such a long time without scoring. To finish the hat-trick was nice. I'm delighted to be back among the goals again."
As Rooney's return to form was never an issue to manager Sir Alex Ferguson, even better news for him were the first signs that Michael Carrick might be finally finding his feet in United colours. Giving him Roy Keane's old number 16 shirt might have seemed to have been born out of irony, giving his lack of temperament and tackling ability, but he does possess a locksmith's eye for an opening.